East Anglian Air Ambulance launch campaign to become a 24/7 service

East Anglian Air Ambulance (EAAA) has launched an ambitious plan to become a 24/7 helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS) provider by 2020. The charity currently operates 365-days-a-year but not 24-hours-a-day, meaning that if an incident happened between midnight and 07:00 there is currently no HEMS provision in the region. The charity is aiming to cover this gap and become a full 24/7 HEMS service by 2020. To do that they need to raise an additional £1 million a year to fund the operation.

The type of incidents the charity attend – serious road traffic collisions, cardiac arrests, traumatic injuries and other medical emergencies - do not stop when their crew go offline. While a 24/7 service seemed to make sense, the charity needed to be sure, so have been gathering evidence to prove it. They worked with the East of England Ambulance Service Trust (EEAST), who task them, to review incidents over the course of a year where critical care was required but unavailable. They also assessed the need first-hand by trialling an overnight service via rapid response vehicle (RRV) four days a week from the Norwich base. The results of this work confirmed a significant region-wide need for overnight critical care, particularly in rural Norfolk. In the first twelve months of the overnight trial they attended 220 missions, but they say that with the helicopter they could do so much more.

Matthew Jones, Director of Operations at EAAA, said; “Becoming a 24/7 service by air will provide the people of East Anglia with a service that has not previously been available. By operating 24/7 we believe that we will treat approximately 600 more patients every year. Patient care is at the heart of everything we do at EAAA, so if we can be there for 600 more people each year and further reduce the impact of trauma and medical emergencies in the community then this is a great step forward for us. We currently need to raise £12M a year to operate our service, and it will cost an additional £1m a year to fund a full 24/7 operation.”

Steve Jones has witnessed first-hand the care that EAAA provide. Steve was riding his motorcycle in Norfolk, when a car he overtook turned into his path catapulting him from his motorbike, head-first through a brick wall and into a ditch filled with water. Steve was unconscious and submerged under the water.

The Anglia One crew was activated and, travelling by helicopter, they arrived on scene 21 minutes later. By this time the ditch was filled with Steve’s blood and the team knew they had to get him out quickly. Steve was making gurgling noises but remained unconscious. The crew made the decision to sedate and intubate him to take control of his breathing. He was then packaged and flown to Addenbrooke’s Hospital. Steve had suffered such a traumatic head injury that the team thought he would not survive.

Steve remained in hospital for 10 weeks, but last November he walked in to the Norwich base to meet the EAAA team and the EEAST land paramedics who also provided treatment on scene. Not only has he suffered no lasting affects, but he is also in the process of finishing his PhD in Software Engineering.

Steve and his wife Claire said; “My wife and I are extremely grateful for the East Anglian Air Ambulance and their East of England Ambulance Service colleagues. I am in no doubt that these heroes saved my life that day and I am optimistic and positive for the future which includes completing the last parts of my PhD and embarking on a Software Engineering industrial research career.”

If Steve’s accident had happened between the hours of midnight and 7am he would not have the received the treatment he did, and it is unlikely that he would have survived.

The charity say they are already incredibly grateful to the community for all their support, but are asking for help to raise the additional £1m a year needed to operate 24/7 so they can save more lives like Steve’s. If you would like to find out more about the campaign or to donate, please visit www.mission247.co.uk. You can also follow them on Facebook as ‘East Anglian Air Ambulance’ and on Twitter as @EastAngliAirAmb.

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EAAA is a helicopter emergency medical service provider covering East Anglia, with offices in Norwich, Ipswich, Cambridge, Melbourn and Peterborough. They provide a 365-day-a-year life-saving service, taking an expert crew consisting of a doctor, a critical care paramedic and two pilots directly to patients who have suffered life-threatening or life-changing accidents or medical emergencies. The clinical crew are supported by charity staff, consisting of a number of teams including; fundraising, operations, communications, HR and executive teams.

So far Tia has raised nearly £500 for Young Epilepsy as well as over £200 for The East of England Ambulance Service via the justgiving page and funded 3 Brio Wrist Alarms, 1 Alert It companion Mattress Alarm and 2 SATs Alarms, not just for Toby but for others battling with Epilepsy.

Toby's original diagnosis back in May was Focal Seizures and Focal Motor Seizures which generalise into Tonic Clonics, since then he has been on daily medication but still has various types of seizures, Myclonus, treated for Asthma and now undergoing investigations for food allergies or intollerances but he remains a happy mischievous toddler.

As November was National Epilepsy Awareness Month Tia created a flyer with information regarding Epilepsy highlighting the seriousness of it and that there is no cure to be given out and displayed you may have spotted it in local shops.

Tia has also been decorating and hiding Epilepsy Awareness themed Norfolk Rocks as well as Shells which she has used to raise awareness for SUDEP (Sudden Unexplained Death in Epilepsy) naming them Shells for SUDEP, her brothers have also helped to get involved with the decorating and hiding even Tommy (2) and Toby (1).

East Anglian Air Ambulance (EAAA) has today launched their ‘Together This Christmas’ campaign. After saving the life of three-year-old Annabel earlier in the year, the charity has asked people to consider giving a little extra over the festive period to bring more patients like Annabel home to their families for Christmas.

On 9 February 2018 EAAA’s Anglia Two crew was tasked at 09.49 to a three-year-old girl named Annabel, who had sadly suffered a cardiac arrest at her pre-school. pilots Olly Gates and Gav Blake flew the team of Dr Victor Inyang, Dr Jon Barratt and Critical Care Paramedic Chris Neil directly to her side, arriving just 17 minutes after receiving the call. Despite a successful resuscitation by the fantastic pre-school team, Annabel was deeply unconscious and her airway was compromised.

The youngest member of the Tia's Treasures Team Toby had his first Tonic Clonic Seizure in March and has since had over 30, 5 of which required a 999 call, after various tests Toby was diagnosed with Epilepsy in May, he has Focal Seizures which then generalise into Tonic Clonics, Focal Motor Seizures, Absences and just recently Drop Seizures.

Tia took it upon herself to set up a Justgiving Crowdfunding page called Help Tia To Help Toby, Tia raised over £1000 so she was able to achieve her goal of purchasing Toby a Seizure Alarm, she then managed to fund another 3 alarms and she has no plans in stopping there, she has now set up a new appeal called Help Tia To Help Others and plans on fundraising for as many Seizure Alarms as she can, these are life saving and life changing.

Over £30,000 has been raised for East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices (EACH) by 26 intrepid cyclists who rode 200-plus miles across the region.

EACH’s Ride for Life started last Friday (20 July) and finished on Sunday at the home of headline sponsor Johnston Logistics UK, in Snetterton. There were overnight stops in between at Premier Inn Ipswich North and Premier Inn Cambridge A14 J32. The route through the East Anglian countryside also saw riders visit EACH’s three hospices - The Treehouse in Ipswich, Milton just north of Cambridge and Quidenham in the Norfolk countryside.

The main peloton was joined by seven other cyclists, doing individual legs of ride, over the course of the three days.